Scott Gac is Professor of History and American Studies at Trinity College. This interview is based on his new book, Born in Blood: Violence and the Making of America (Cambridge University Press, 2024). JF: What led you to write Born […]
guns
The Author’s Corner with Matthew Ward
Matthew Ward is Senior Lecturer in American History at the University of Dundee. This interview is based on his new book, Making the Frontier Man: Violence, White Manhood, and Authority in the Early Western Backcountry (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2023). […]
The Author’s Corner with Alexandra Filindra
Alexandra Filindra is Associate Professor of Political Science and Psychology at the University of Illinois, Chicago. This interview is based on her new book, Race, Rights, and Rifles: The Origins of the NRA and Contemporary Gun Culture (University of Chicago […]
Imagine if the Christian right started offering mere ‘thoughts and prayers’ to end abortion
Four dead at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville today. That’s the 470th mass shooting in the United States this year–and it’s only August. I wrote this piece at The Washington Post after the 2019 shootings in El Paso, Texas […]
Some historical context on the Jason Aldean controversy
Here is historian Nicole Hemmer at CNN: It was mid-November 1927 when, at a Tennessee courthouse wrapped in patriotic decor to celebrate Armistice Day, a White mob seized a Black teenager named Henry Choate and hanged him from the building’s balcony. The […]
Historian: The 2nd Amendment was to make sure the U.S. would not have to deal with a Prigozhin-type invasion
Here is historian Noah Shusterman at The Washington Post: On Saturday, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, ordered his soldiers to withdraw from Ukraine and to instead set their sights on targets within Russia itself. First they took over Rostov, […]
What happened at the NRA leadership forum this weekend?
We have a serious gun violence problem in the United States. While the National Rifle Association was meeting in Indianapolis, there were multiple-death shootings in Dadeville, Alabama; Louisville, Kentucky; Harrisonburg, Virginia; Honolulu, Hawaii; Spring, Texas; Orlando, Florida; Ahoskie, North Carolina; […]
The Author’s Corner with Travis A. Rountree
Travis A. Rountree is Assistant Professor of English at Western Carolina University. This interview is based on his new book, Hillsville Remembered: Public Memory, Historical Silence, and Appalachia’s Most Notorious Shoot-Out (University Press of Kentucky, 2023). JF: What led you […]
The Author’s Corner with Carl T. Bogus
Carl T. Bogus is Professor of Law Emeritus at Roger Williams University. This interview is based on his new book, Madison’s Militia: The Hidden History of the Second Amendment (Oxford University Press, 2023). JF: What led you to write Madison’s […]
Addendum to roundup of coverage on guns and gun control: Timothy Larsen’s essay from 2021
Earlier today, I ran a roundup of all Current, Arena, and Way of Improvement Leads Home coverage on guns and gun control since May 2022. But I want to add here one more resource. In August 2021, Current Contributing Editor […]
Guns and mass shootings coverage roundup since May 2022: Current, Arena, and Way of Improvement Leads Home
In late May 2022, less than a year ago, John Fea posted this roundup of coverage on guns and gun control on his blog. This week unfortunately seems to be an appropriate time to add to this list. Below are […]
Ideas in progress: Joseph P. Slaughter on Christianity and gun culture
Joseph P. Slaughter is Assistant Professor of the Practice in Religion and Associate Director of the Center for the Study of Guns and Society at Wesleyan University (Middletown, Connecticut). The Arena caught up with him to pose some questions… What […]
What’s the deal with those AR-15 lapel pins that GOP members of Congress are wearing?
Will Bunch explains at The Philadelphia Inquirer. A taste: The sight in recent days of Santos and several of his Republican colleagues parading through the hallowed halls of the U.S. Capitol with a mini-celebration of a killing machine that serves […]
Boyhood and guns
Over at JSTOR Daily, Rachael Kay Albers asks “how marketing made guns a fundamental element of contemporary boyhood.” She calls attention to the scholarly work of Charles-Edward Anderson, Anne G. Kimball, Sarah L. Olson, Jay Mechling, Wendy Varney, and Garen […]
Could the battle over abortion in the states result in another “Bleeding Kansas?”
Michael Waldman writes about the recent Supreme Court gun ruling: The Supreme Court’s ruling on Thursday striking down a New York gun law isn’t just the most significant ruling on the Second Amendment in a dozen years — it may be the […]
Senate passes bipartisan gun bill
Here is NBC News: The Senate on Thursday night passed the most sweeping gun bill designed to prevent gun violence in decades, a major victory for advocates and a rare defeat for the National Rifle Association. The vote was 65 to 33, with all […]
The GOP is in a dark place right now
This letter was sent to Adam Kinzinger’s home. He is a veteran and a GOP member of the House January 6th Select Committee. The letter was addressed to his wife: This is not the first time Kinzinger has released a […]
Ohio governor Mike DeWine wants guns in classrooms
DeWine will probably sign a bill that will allow teachers to carry weapons in their classrooms after 24 hours of training. Here is NPR on Ohio House Bill 99: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is poised to sign a bill on […]
Senators agree on bipartisan gun safety
A step in the right direction. Here is a Politico: A group of 20 senators struck a bipartisan gun safety framework on Sunday, marking a significant breakthrough in Congress’ attempts to address recent back-to-back mass shootings. In a Sunday morning […]
Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey on guns
Over at The Washington Post, the Pennsylvania senator writes about how he changed his mind about guns after Sandy Hook. Here is a taste: I’m a U.S. senator who has done something rare in today’s politics: I’ve changed my position […]